The Frog Man
by KunoichiB
Summary: Harlan Vang is a totally normal 14 year old kid - that is, until he's dragged into a war between vampires and an evil half-man half-frog creature. Can Harlan and the vampires defeat the Frog Man? Better than it sounds. Rated for violence and language.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Apparently, years ago there was an evil creature, half-man half-frog, that tried to wipe out the entire vampiric and human race alike. The vampires, of course, fought back, and the humans, of course, carried on living their lives, totally oblivious to the chaos and danger surrounding them. The vampires' fighting was all to no avail, however, as the Frog Man was much too powerful, and proceeded to destroy nearly all of the vampires in the world. Human casualties were minimal, thanks to the vampires who fought not only for themselves, but the safety of the humans. Not many vampires remained after those terrible days of war. A few survived, though, and – after the Frog Man mysteriously disappeared – the vampires began to build up their numbers and populate the world once more.

Strange story, that. I know what you're thinking – 'Who the hell told you that story, you freak? And why do you believe it? Are you mentally ill or something?'

Well, I too used to think I was mentally ill, but unfortunately I was proved wrong when I actually saw the Frog Man myself, or better still, turned out to be one of the extremely rare people who could actually control it. Yes, life hasn't been exactly fantastic for me so far, but I'm still clinging to the small, almost hopeless chance that it'll start looking up sometime soon.

I should probably introduce myself, since I'm all you're going to be reading about for the next hundred or so pages. My name's Harlan Vang. I used to be an average, lazy 14 year old kid who hated doing anything that involved hard work, but when my twin sister Amaya and I started being stalked by the Frog Man and three vampires came knocking on my door, things started to take a turn for the worse. It usually wasn't my thing to jump in and save the day, but I did, and, well, this is what happened.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Harlan, have you seen Phinnie?" Amaya asked as she threw all of the cushions off the couch. Although we're twins, we look nothing alike. She looks more like my mum with her long blond hair, short fringe and rosy cheeks. I have my dad's looks with scruffy dark brown hair and a pale complexion, with dark bags under my eyes as a result of going to bed so late. I was a little bit taller than Maya, but then again, I'm tall for my age.

"You lost that thing again?" I said, rolling my eyes and flipping the page of the comic book I was reading. Yeah, okay, I'm a geek, I like comics. Don't judge me.

Maya scowled at me. "No, I _haven't _lost him. I've just temporarily misplaced him," she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Yeah, right. Well if I see it, I'm gonna kill it," I growled. That was probably a lie. As much as I hate frogs, I probably wouldn't go out of my way to _kill _one.

"You monster!" Amaya shouted, throwing a cushion at me. "Phinnie has as much right to live as you or me! If you lay one finger on Phinnie I'll-,"

"What's with all the shouting?" That was my dad. He and Mum had just come back from late-night Christmas shopping, and they were both standing in the doorway to the living room, Mum looking tired and Dad smiling.

"I hope you too aren't bickering over that silly little frog again," Mum said, rolling her eyes.

"Maya's lost him," I said, not looking up from the comic I was reading.

"Maya, if you can't look after that frog he's going. This is the third time you've lost him this month! Your mum and I only let you have him because you promised you'd look after him properly." Dad said. Maya looked at the floor, her cheeks flushing pink. She hated getting in trouble. She always did what she was told, never complained. She even tidies her room without being asked. She's always playing the role of the perfect child, making me look bad.

"It's not my fault, Dad. He's really slippery and he always hops away before I can catch him," she said defensively.

"You liar, frog's aren't slippery," I stated. "_And _they're really slow hoppers. Well, _your _frog is anyway..."

Maya glared at me. "How would you know? You've never touched him and you never go near him."

I snorted. "Maybe not, but I'm not stupid. Everyone knows frogs, snakes and lizards are dry. And just because I don't go near him doesn't mean I'm blind. I watch from afar."

Mum let out a weary sigh. "Don't start again. You're twins, you're not supposed to bicker all the time," Mum said.

"Just because we're born on the same day, it doesn't immediately make us best friends, Mum," I said tiredly. Mum seemed to have this crazy idea that all twins are supposed to stick to each other like glue and finish each other's sentences and stuff like that. I wouldn't be surprised if she expected us to have telepathic abilities too. I jumped up off the sofa and up the stairs to my room, muttering a 'goodnight' to my parents as I went. It was a little early for bed (it was actually only eight thirty) but I always was one for early nights.

I lay in bed, my arms resting behind my head, and stared at the ceiling, unable to get to sleep. I kept thinking about my sister's stupid frog, and prayed that it wasn't anywhere in my room. As much as I hated to admit that I was scared of something, frogs were something that I couldn't stand. There was something about them that creeped me out, and I shuddered just thinking about them. I pushed all thoughts about frogs out of my head and eventually I began to nod off.

I dreamed I was marching through the jungle, knife in hand and cutting my way through the thick green plants and trees. I had no idea where I was headed, but I didn't stop. Suddenly, as I was in the deepest part of the jungle, hundreds of frogs appeared out of thin air and surrounded me. I tried to kick them away but there were too many. They hopped on to me and I tried brushing them off but more and more kept coming. I began to scream, but frogs soon filled up my mouth and I couldn't breathe...

I awoke with a jolt, and a bead of sweat dripped down my face. I looked around, sighed, and lay back down. I was just about to get back to sleep when I heard a scream. I jumped in alarm and jumped out of bed, following the sound into Maya's bedroom.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Mum and Dad were already in Maya's room, Mum sitting on the bed next to her giving her a comforting hug and Dad standing next to the bed looking worried. Maya's screams hadn't subsided, and I could see terrified tears streaming down her face. I just thought she'd had a bad nightmare like me, but she was pointing towards the corner of the room.

"What is it? Did you have a nightmare?" Mum was saying, putting her arms around my sister.

"No, get off me," Maya yelled, pushing Mum away and standing up. I frowned. Maya wasn't really the violent type. Something must've really had her spooked. "I didn't have a nightmare there's just _a guy in my room!" _She pointed vigorously towards the corner of the room. I turned and managed to make out the silhouette of a man standing right in the corner of the room, standing and staring. I jumped back when I saw him and swore under my breath. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the corner, I looked at him closely. At first I thought it was just a _really _tall man, but as I looked more closely, I began to notice that this thing wasn't _human._ From the feet to the shoulders it just looked like an ordinary guy – and really tall ordinary guy - wearing an expensive-looking suit, but its huge, oddly-shaped head – from what I could make out – was green. It was the head of a _frog. _

I frowned as I stared at the creature, not sure whether it was real. I closed my eyes and opened them, half expecting the thing to be gone, but he was still there, staring. What the hell was going on?

The Frog Man stepped forward, out of the shadows, and our eyes met. He opened his wide, ugly mouth and said one word in an expressionless rough voice. "Croak."

My eyes widened and I jumped back against the wall. "What the _hell _is that?" I screamed, my voice breaking. My father turned to me.

"What's what?" he demanded.

I looked to him incredulously. "Don't you see it?"

"Good, you see it too?" Maya asked, relief written all over her face. "At least that means I'm not crazy."

"See what?" Dad said, sounding worried, and his head turned to the corner of the room, and he looked straight through the frog creature.

I looked at Maya. At least she could see it. That proved I wasn't insane. I looked at my parents, and I could see that we were scaring them. They obviously had no idea what we we're talking about, which meant only me and Maya could see the thing. There was no way they'd believe us if we told them a man with a frog's face was standing in the corner of the room, so I thought out the best approach to take. We could

Tell Mum and Dad about the creature and have them cart us off to a mental institution, or

Pretend that nothing was wrong and try to figure out what to do by ourselves.

I decided to go with option B.

I suddenly started laughing. Maya looked at me incredulously, clearly thinking I was mad for laughing at a time like this, but I ignored her. "Just kidding," I laughed, slapping my knee comically. "Nah, there's nothing there. April Fools!"

I saw my parents' faces go red as they glared at me. "It's not April Fool's day," Dad said through clenched teeth.

"_You woke us up at 2am for some silly little prank_?" Mum shrieked. "You had us worried sick we thought you were going insane or something! That's it. You two are both grounded. You're not to leave your rooms other than to go to school, and no computer, or..."

I switched off after that, patiently waiting for Mum to finish her lecture. I'd never seen her or Dad so angry. My heart was beating a million miles an hour as I looked at the frog creature again. I know, I should be terrified. A giant half-frog half-man creature standing in the corner of the room, staring at us, but for some reason, I wasn't. I think part of me still thought it didn't exist, and that's why I wasn't freaking out, but it wasn't often that I lost my cool. I know, I sound quite full of myself, but it was true. It'll take a lot more than some giant frog guy to make me crack.

"_What the hell is so funny?" _Mum screeched, and I jumped for the third time that night.

"Nothing," I grumbled, and rolled my eyes as Mum started on another rant.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Our parents eventually left the room, leaving me, my sister and the creature alone.

"What the hell is going on?" Maya said, her voice shaky. The Frog Man was still in the room, not moving, just staring.

"I have no idea," I replied honestly. "This isn't normal."

Maya exploded. "Oh, really, you think so do you? A giant mutated freak is standing in the corner of my room at two in the morning and all you can say is "_this isn't_ _normal_'?" she shrieked.

I looked at her. She was losing it. She was usually like me, cool and calm, but this monster had really gotten to her. The Frog Man suddenly jumped forward, quick as lightning, and landed an inch in front of me. Maya screamed and I stumbled backwards uselessly and hit the wall. Okay, this _really _wasn't normal. I felt panic rise up in me and I think it had finally sunk in what was happening. There was a _Frog Man _in front of me. I opened my mouth and a wide range of swear words came spilling out of my mouth. I shouted every curse word I knew and some I thought I made up on the spot.

"_What the hell is going on?" _I yelled.

"You're gonna wake Mum and Dad!" Maya hissed, grabbing my arm. I closed my mouth suddenly and forced myself to calm down. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine myself somewhere calm. I was on the beach, listening to the waves crashing onto the sand, kids laughing and running around, birds singing. I sighed contentedly. Being at the beach always calmed me down. Except, I wasn't on the beach, which I became increasingly aware of as my sister's voice broke my concentration and I sank back into the realms of reality.

"Harlan?" Maya asked, giving me a shake. "What the hell are you doing? You're just gonna close your eyes and ignore the giant frog creature?"

I opened my eyes and sighed in annoyance. "Well that was the plan, yes. Thanks for ruining that for me. Now what?"

"What is it? Why do you think it's here? Do you think it wants to kill us?" Maya said quietly, panic in her voice.

"I think if it did we'd already be dead," I said, and then turned to the Frog Man. "What are you?" I asked slowly, as though talking to an idiot. For all I knew, I was.

The Frog Man didn't answer. He just kept staring. "What do you want from us?" I tried again. Still, nothing. "Get lost!" I growled, waving my arms at it. To mine and Maya's surprise, he obeyed. He disappeared, leaving me and my sister alone in her bedroom.

We stood in silence for a few moments, wondering if what had just happened was real. These series of events was certainly enough to make ones such as us to question our sanity.

"Why can't Mum and Dad see him?" I wondered aloud, breaking the silence.

"Maybe he's one of those things that only kids can see?" Maya suggested.

"What things?" I asked with a scowl, turning to face her. If she was talking about those monsters from horror movies I was going to be angry.

"Like...I don't know. Some movies..." she began, struggling to find a reasonable response.

"Forget about movies, Maya. This isn't a movie. It's real and it's happening to us. What the hell is going on? Am I hallucinating? Or...that's it," I said, clicking my fingers, my irritation disappearing and suddenly being replaced by realization and relief. "I'm dreaming aren't I?"

Maya stared at me as though I'd just grown a second head. Considering what had happened that night so far, that wasn't all that unlikely. I raised a hand to my neck, just to be sure. Nothing. I smiled. I only had one head...for now. I decided to stop thinking about the possibility of growing another head, because I was really starting to worry for my mental health.

"How can you be so calm?" Maya hissed at me, and she sat down on the bed.

I shrugged. I never believed in monsters, so I was never scared by horror movies or ghost stories, but this one was real. I thought I should feel a bit more scared than I did, but I just felt curious. What was it? What did it want with me and my sister?

We eventually decided that it was pointless standing around all night, and that we should probably head off to bed, though both of us were wide awake thanks to the shock of seeing a real life monster.

So we went to bed, though I was pretty sure neither of us got a wink of sleep, thinking about the Frog Man and whether he'd really gone, whether he'd really _existed_. It felt like a dream. It _must _have been a dream. Things like that just didn't _happen_ in the real world. Was I going crazy?

The next morning my alarm clock went off at exactly 7:00 am. I practically _dragged _myself out of bed and got ready for school. I could barely keep my eyes open, and Mum was still mad at us because of our so-called 'prank', so and she hardly spoke to us all morning. Not that that bothered me. _I _was angry at _her _for being so ignorant.

My first class for the day was maths with Mr. Thornton. I usually found it hard to concentrate during classes, but now I didn't even bother trying. I was way too tired and my thoughts kept drifting off to the Frog Man. My friends, Jaden, Heather and Ryan, kept talking to me, but I was too tired to care about what they were saying, and only gave vague one-word answers. They gave up after a while and talked amongst themselves, but I didn't care. I didn't care about anything except sleep at that point.

The day went pretty well in regards to normality. That is, until the afternoon. It was when we were walking home from school when Maya and I saw the Frog Man again. He was standing next to a bunch of kids by the bus stop staring at us with his small beady black eyes. His green bald head tilted to one side, as though he was awaiting an order. I stopped in my tracks and I heard Maya's breath catch in her throat. My own breathing became heavy as I stared at the Frog Man. He looked even worse during the day. The sun glinted off his slimy-looking head and his long pink tongue flicked out, making my blood run cold. My glance flickered to the other kids walking by. None of them seemed to notice the strange half-man half-frog creature, even the group huddled right next to him. It was like he was invisible to everyone but me and Maya.

"Him again," Maya whispered, her voice trembling. "He's back."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious_," _I said bitterly, rolling my eyes.

"You're welcome, Lieutenant Sarcasm," Maya replied

The Frog Man stepped towards us slowly, his hands behind his back. I thought he was holding a weapon of some sort and was planning on killing us, and got prepared to run. My sister and I backed off, trying to get as far away from him as possible as quickly as possible without drawing too much attention to ourselves. The Frog Man easily caught up with us – I was surprised at how fast he could move for something so big - and stopped about two metres in front of us. We stopped moving when he did. He looked much uglier up close. He did nothing for a moment, and then he extended his arms out to us. I realized he was holding something in his hands. His hands, like his head, were frog hands, light green with dark green spots on them. It took me a second to see what he was holding, but when I did my eyes widened. Maya gasped.

He was holding _Phinnie!_


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"What the hell..." Maya breathed, staring at Phinnie. For once in my life I was rendered speechless.

The Frog Man didn't move or speak, he just stood there staring, probably waiting for us to take Phinnie back, but we were too shocked to move. We stood there unmoving for a long time, until Maya reached out and took her frog back.

The Frog Man dropped his hands and opened his mouth. "Croak," he said, before disappearing into thin air. I glanced at Maya. So that's where her frog went. Did the Frog Man steal it or did he simply find it somewhere and pick it up? Anyway, it didn't really matter how or where he got it from. But he did have it. Why would the Frog Man go out of his way to give it back to Maya? This just became crazier and crazier.

We rushed home after he disappeared and I collapsed on the sofa and covered my face with my hands. I was really starting to get freaked out. The Frog Man had appeared twice now and we still had no idea what it was or what it wanted. Or, more importantly, if it wanted to hurt us.

Over the next few days even stranger things started to happen (as hard as that is to believe). Whenever Maya or I thought of the Frog Man he appeared. And whenever we thought for him to leave, he did. Unfortunately, he always came back a few hours later. I also discovered, after concentrating really hard, that I could actually see inside the Frog Man's head, to some extent. Maya tried a few times to do it but she couldn't seem to get the hang of it. I thought it was cool at first, if not weird, but I then realized it wasn't as awesome as I originally thought. The Frog Man's mind wasn't very interesting. He didn't have proper thoughts, I guessed because his mind was too simple. I could, however, sort of _feel_ what he was thinking, through his emotions. He was mostly just neutral, but I'd felt traces of annoyance there a few times, which unnerved me. What if he got fed up with us accidently summoning him and decided to kill us? I couldn't figure out what it meant, though. Why could we summon him, and why could I read his mind? Nothing made sense.

Much of the next few weeks were the same. The Frog Man kept showing up in random places at random times, but he never did anything but stand and stare, the same blank expression on his face. He seemed to follow Maya around more than me, though. Maybe it's because of her love of frogs, or maybe it's because it just doesn't like me. I wasn't complaining, though. I tried talking to it quite a few times, trying to find out what it wants and why it's following us, but each time I got only a hard "croak" in return.

It was standing with us right now, as we watched TV. After all this time, we kind of accepted it was there and tried our best to ignore it, but it still made Maya uneasy when it's around. Maya lost her patience with it one day when we were out grocery shopping with Mum and threw a tin of baked beans at it, but it just sailed right through the Frog Man's torso and hit an old lady on the head, knocking her out cold. I thought that was hilarious, but Maya and Mum shared different opinions. We got kicked out of the shop and Mum was furious. Even angrier than when we pulled that 'prank' when we first saw the Frog Man. She said it was lucky that the old lady was still alive, after a knock to the head that bad. The way she went on at me it was like _I _threw the tin. She grounded me and my sister again and wouldn't even let me come down for dinner. So I stayed in my room and sulked, summoning and dismissing the Frog Man purely out of boredom. Maya brought me up a few slices of pizza after they'd had dinner. _She _was the one who threw the can and _she _didn't have to miss dinner.

"Thanks," I muttered as she handed me the pizza.

"The Frog Man _has_ to go," Maya said, as I took a bite of pizza. I gulped down my first bite and took another. "Any ideas on how we can get rid of him?" I asked her, my voice muffled as a result of cramming so much pizza in it.

Maya frowned slightly in disapproval of my sloppy manners and nodded slowly. "Actually, I've been thinking a lot about the night we first saw him in my room, and I think I have an idea," she said.

I raised my eyebrows, trying to look interested. "Oh, really?"

"Remember when you tried talking to him?" Maya said, and I nodded. "When you told him to 'leave us alone' he listened."

"So?" I asked, half confused, half not-really-listening. "We already know that we can summon him and make him go away, so what's your point? Your brilliant idea is that you've figured out we can summon him?" I clapped sarcastically. "Oh, well done. Point for Maya."

"Will you let me finish?" my sister snapped, glaring at me. "I was _going _to say, what if he has to listen to us? What he has to do everything we say," Maya said.

I rolled my eyes. "That's a little farfetched. I've tried telling him not to come back but he doesn't listen."

Maya shrugged. "It's just a theory. You got anything better?"

I studied her for a moment, and swallowed slice of pizza. "Okay, fine. We'll give it a try next time we see him," I said. "But it's not going to work."

Maya's eyes shifted to something behind me and I turned around. Frog Man was standing behind me.

"Speak of the devil," I said, smiling wryly. I cleared my throat and stepped up to him. It was almost impossible for me to look him in the eyes since he was so tall and his head was so chunky, but I did my best. "Frog Man, if you can understand me, I order you to..." I looked around the room for something to make Frog Man do. My eyes landed on the pizza that was in my hand. "I order you to eat the pizza." As soon as the last word left my mouth, Frog Man's tongue shot out like a whip, landed on the pizza and yanked it from my grip and into its own mouth. Maya let out a little yell of surprise and I grunted and stumbled backwards. The force and speed of the Frog Man's tongue had made it not a very pleasant experience to have it slam into my hand (surprisingly enough), and I clutched my hand, trying to determine whether it was broken.

I glanced at Maya and Maya glanced at me, and then we both smiled. The Frog Man was under our control and was invisible to everyone but us. We could make him do _whatever _we wanted. Maybe having that Frog-Freak tag around with us everywhere wasn't going to be so bad after all.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The Frog Man proved to be very handy after that. He tidied our rooms, cleaned the house, and did our homework, and didn't complain once. At least I don't think he did. All he said was "croak"...

Although we still wondered where Frog Man had come from and why he was here, the question didn't bother us much since we were so occupied in ordering the creature around. For months we had a great time giving him orders and making him slave over us (well, _I _was giving him orders. Maya said I was being cruel to it and tried not to boss him around much), and I was actually beginning to be glad that he'd showed up. It was only after a few months of having Frog Man as a servant when I noticed something off about his behaviour.

I was slouching on the sofa, eating a packet of crisps and watching the TV when I called the Frog Man. He used to appear immediately, but now I had to wait a couple of minutes. I began to grow agitated and called him again. He appeared directly in front of me, blocking my view of the TV. I sighed impatiently.

"Could you move over a bit please?" I said, trying (and failing) to be polite. I entered his mind and felt annoyance, but it wasn't just traces of it like last time. It was nearly overwhelming. He was really _angry_.

I cleared my throat uncomfortably and addressed the creature. "I need you to do my maths homework," I said. I felt kind of bad for ordering it around so much, but my homework wasn't going to do itself.

The Frog Man seemed to glare at me for a second, and then it disappeared. I thought about the Frog Man's reaction, but decided it was nothing and turned back to the TV. It wasn't usually like me to be so reckless, but the Frog Man had no choice but to listen to us. If he got out of hand I would just order him away. Simple. Maya joined me at the TV a while later. She sat next to me and said nothing. I looked at her. She looked unhappy. I wondered what was bothering her, but didn't ask.

The next day at school I handed in my maths homework to Mr Thornton and took my seat next to Ryan at the back of the class.

"Mr Vang, is this some kind of a joke?" Mr Thornton said, glaring at me over the top of his thick rimmed glasses. He was a rather elderly man with light sand-coloured hair and no sense of humour.

Everyone in the class turned around in their seats to stare at me. I looked up at him, eyebrows raised. "I'm sorry?" I asked, and frowned when he held up my homework.

Mr Thornton lifted the paper up to his face and read slowly and precisely, "25 x 56 = confusing." A few students sniggered but Mr Thornton took no notice and kept reading. "If a car drives 500km in 47 minutes how fast is the car going? _Quite fast!"_ Mr Thornton growled at me.

_Oh shit, _I thought. What the hell had that giant toad got me into?

"Mr Vang you do realize that this piece of assessment greatly affects your overall grade? By making a joke out of this assignment and therefore _failing _it you have brought your overall grade down to a D-, which means you have failed maths this year!"

The kids were still giggling quietly, thinking that my failing maths was funny. I wasn't a straight A student by a long shot, but I hardly ever failed a subject. The lowest grade I usually got was a C-, and the highest being a B. I saw Jaden, and Ryan grinning at me and I smiled back, trying to make it look like I'd planned it. My other friend, Heather, a girl with straight dark brown hair leaned over to my desk.

"What the hell are you thinking?" she hissed. "You can't fail this assignment or you're screwed." She was used to me slacking off and I knew it irritated her when I acted so carefree.

"I know," I muttered, inwardly cursing that stupid overgrown toad. This must be his revenge for all the times I made him get me drinks when I was too lazy to get them myself. I ran a hand through my scruffy hair, successfully making it even messier. It was the least of my worries, however. The Frog Man wasn't listening anymore. I was losing my control over him. This wasn't good.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The day dragged by after the maths incident, but after what seemed like a lifetime the bell rang to go home. I left the room and stepped into the hallway, heading to my locker, not bothering to wait for my friends, but assuming they'd catch up. A few kids clapped me on the back as they passed, praising me for my 'awesome joke'. I just rolled my eyes and shoved my books in my locker.

Ryan and Jaden rushed up to me. "What did you do that for, you idiot?" Ryan said, smiling. It would seem that my friends found my situation amusing.

"Drop it, okay?" I said, narrowing my eyes. "I got someone else to do my homework; they must've screwed up the questions to make me look bad or something."

"Who did?" Ryan asked, frowning.

"Was it Maya?" Jaden chipped in.

I ignored them and went outside where kids were out having lunch. Ryan left us to go and play football with a few other guys. I'd never been one for football. Or any sport. I wasn't a sporty guy. I was more of a reading guy. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't the geeky guy who spent his time studying and doing generally geeky things. But I did like reading. I was engrossed in my book as Jaden tried to make small talk. I answered him occasionally and after a while Heather joined us. I nodded in greeting and turned my eyes back to my book.

"What's with you lately?" asked Jaden, eyeing me suspiciously.

I turned my head to him. "What do you mean?"

"You've been so distant," Heather said, her face creasing with concern.

I avoided eye contact. "I've just be busy is all," I said with a yawn. "I haven't been getting much sleep."

"All this time I thought he was a lazy kind of guy," Heather said sarcastically, "and yet he doesn't even sleep."

I sighed. It was true; I hadn't been getting much sleep. As useful as the Frog Man had become he still freaked me out and I had many sleepless nights, expecting the Frog Man to appear in my room and do something creepy. Like kill me.

"So, Heather, what are you doing tomorrow night?" Jaden asked, completely changing the subject and smiling at Heather. I was grateful for him drawing the attention off me. I didn't really want my friends to badger me about sleeping and what-not. I briefly wondered about telling them about the Frog Man. _Wow, you've definitely gone insane,_ a voice in my head said. Well, I say _a _voice. It was _my_ voice. But I was right. There was no way I could tell _anyone _about our little frog problem. They'd laugh in my face and probably cart me off to the mental institution.

I smiled a little as Heather scoffed. "Not interested," she said, not even looking at him.

I listened as my two friends argued, Jaden begging Heather to give him a chance, Heather cruelly rejecting him and breaking his heart. That made me laugh. Count on my friends to cheer me up. Lunch ended, and so did the school day a few hours after that. I found Maya and we began our exciting, treacherous trip home. Of course, by saying it would be exciting and treacherous, I was using sarcasm. What I _didn't _expect was that our trip actually _would _be exciting and treacherous.

We were halfway home, taking a shortcut through an alleyway, when I heard a voice calling behind us. I was listening to my iPod so it was a bit muffled, but I definitely heard it, so I took my headphones off and turned around.

Maya groaned. There were two tall girls ahead of us, sneering spitefully and looking directly at Maya. One had long blonde hair and was dressed in pink, and the other had shoulder-length black hair and was dressed in three-quarter length trousers and a plain tank top.

"What do you want?" I said rudely. Although I'd never met them, I could tell they were trouble, and so I didn't bother with manners.

"We aren't talking to _you, _you geek. We're talking to our friend _Amaya,_" said the blonde girl, placing her hands on her hips. Just so we're clear, I am definitely _not _a geek.

"Leave me alone, Robyn," Maya muttered to the black-haired girl. "Let's go, Harlan."

I scowled at them and my sister and I turned to leave.

"Hey, we're talking to you, Maya. You think you can just ignore us?" Robyn yelled after us. I rolled my eyes and put my headphones back in. I could just about hear the girls yelling stuff at us but I didn't really care about what they were saying so I didn't bother taking my headphones off. Their shouting got louder, and I gritted my teeth in irritation. How annoying.

Suddenly, Robyn leaped forward and grabbed Maya by the shoulder and yanked her back. I moved to help her, but the other girl grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and threw me away. I was impressed by how strong she was (for a girl, anyway). I sighed inwardly, knowing that nothing good could come from getting into a fight. I hated fights. I didn't even know _how _to fight. When I was somehow dragged into a fight I just freaked out and ran the first chance I got. You may call me a coward but it's better than getting your face bludgeoned in and having to walk around for a week with a swollen eye (trust me, I know). I'd rather be a coward than an idiot.

"Maya, let's get out of here before these two hurt themselves," I said to my sister. I suddenly realized that that wasn't the best thing I could have said. I mentally cursed myself. I thought I was trying to get away from them not _anger _them. Damn it.

Robyn and her friend laughed hysterically. Talk about drama queens. It wasn't even that funny. "Look who's talking, pipsqueak. We can take you down without breaking a sweat." Robyn's friend spat.

I sighed, getting increasingly tired of the name-calling. For the record, I wasn't a pipsqueak either. I was actually quite tall. Just not as tall as them. I wouldn't go so far as to say I was _muscular_, especially considering I had practically no muscles at all. It wasn't my fault those girls were freakishly big.

"What's your problem?" I asked, wondering why the hell they were bothering to pick a fight with us. I found it hard to believe that Maya had done something to offend them. Then again, I could be wrong.

"Our problem is not with _you, _idiot. Just ask your little sister, I'm sure _she _knows," the second girl said, placing her hands on her hips.

I turned to Maya, who blushed slightly. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Caitlin," she insisted.

"Bullshit!" Robyn suddenly yelled. "I saw you with him, bitch! He's _my _boyfriend, so stay the hell away from him, got that?"

"He's only dating you because you threatened to tell everyone about what he did at his party!" Maya shouted back, finally snapping.

I looked on obliviously. I had no idea who – or _what _– they were talking about, but from what I gathered, my sister and I were about to get beaten up because of some stupid _girl _drama. I considered backing away slowly and trying to get away before they noticed me, but I decided not to leave my sister alone with these creeps. I tuned back into the argument between the girls and Maya to hear them shouting at each other, talking about some boy.

I slipped my hands in my pockets and put my headphones back in. This was nothing to do with me. There was no reason for me to listen to their squabbling. My eyes widened in surprise as Robyn suddenly leaped at my sister, shoving her to the ground. Maya cried out as she hit the ground forcefully and then rolled out of the way of a kick that Robyn aimed at her head.

I moved to help her, but Caitlin dived at me and slammed her fist into my face. I went sprawling, and was vaguely aware of blood running down my face. I got up slowly, trying to wipe the blood away but more kept coming. I could not believe I was just beaten up by a girl. I groaned. This was going to ruin my reputation. Not that I had a reputation that was anything more than a cowardly lay-about, but still. That girl had given me a nosebleed. My face, totally, if only temporarily, ruined by some stupid bully who didn't even know who I was. This meant war.

I was about to run when I saw a green blur out of the corner of my eye. I turned and saw Frog Man standing, staring at Maya and the other girl with nothing more than mild interest.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded, my voice sounding weird from my injured nose. The edge of Frog Man's mouth twitched up into what could possibly have been a smile, and he stepped forward calmly picked Robyn up and held her dangling in the air by her throat. She made a horrible choking noise and her face slowly began to turn blue.

Caitlin and Maya screamed and I watched on, wide-eyed. I didn't order him to do this! I looked at Maya, who looked incredibly panicky and started shouting various commands at the Frog Man. Those commands including 'stop', 'go away', 'put the girl down' and 'Oh my God, Harlan, do something!' I realized that last command was aimed at me, and I stepped forward, mustering up all my strength and power and said one simple word: "Stop."

The Frog Man lowered the girl back to the floor slowly, and she gasped for air. In all the commotion Robyn's so-called 'friend' had freaked out and ran for the hills. I didn't blame her, the poor girl. If my friend starting rising into the air randomly and gasping for breath I wouldn't be so calm either. Probably.

I turned to Maya to show off to her about how good I was at controlling the Frog Man, but didn't get a word out before a sickening crack was heard and Maya screamed. I turned around and saw the girl lying on the floor, her neck twisted to the side awkwardly. The Frog Man was standing over her, his mouth curled up into a cruel half-smile. I gaped at him and then the girl. I didn't know what to say. How did that happen? Why didn't he listen to me?

"You killed her!" Maya whispered, horrified.

We stood there in a state of shock, unable to say another word. The Frog Man had rebelled. He had killed that girl. _Killed _her. And my blood was at the crime scene. I realized I should probably act with a little more concern for the dead girl in front of me rather than worrying about leaving evidence at the crime scene, but that was a big problem. If the police find my DNA and blood at the place where they find a dead body, things won't be too good for me. Robyn had been a bitch but she didn't deserve to die.

I suddenly thought of something. Now that the Frog Man had learnt to ignore commands, what was he going to do to _us_? I exchanged a glance with Maya and knew she was thinking the same. The Frog Man stepped towards us, and I was certain he was intending on killing us right along with that girl, but we didn't stay around to find out. We ran.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Frog Man disappeared after that, whether it was to plot our demise or to go away to a faraway country never to return I didn't know, but I _did _know I was glad to be rid of him. For now at least. I knew he'd come back soon and I had no idea what he was going to do to us then. We were at home now, Mum and Dad both still at work so we had the place to ourselves to mull over what was happening. I could say we were both being brave and trying to figure out what to do next, but that would probably be a lie. We were both totally freaking out. A girl our age was just murdered in front of us. I was sitting on the sofa with my head in my hands, trying to think clearly but all I could hear was that _crack _playing over and over again in my head. It made me sick to my stomach. Maya was sitting on the chair next to me, silently weeping. I think we were both in a state of shock.

"What do we do now?" Maya asked quietly after quite a long time of silence.

"I don't know," I replied honestly, lifting my head up and sitting back on the sofa.

"Do we call the police?"

I considered it. If we called the police there'd be questions. We'd be the number one suspects and they would never believe that a Frog Man did it. Plus, my DNA was at the crime scene. Not good. Maya could probably get away with not being there, but there was no way I was getting off. I'd probably be arrested, taken to a high security prison where they stash the most dangerous criminals. I'd never been to a prison before...

"No," I said. "We can't."

"This is our fault. We need to own up," she said, wiping her eyes dry.

"And that's exactly why we can't call the police. Because it's our fault. Yeah, we probably should own up, but we have to do what's in our best interest. And right now, that's pretending like none of this ever happened."

"How can you say that?" Maya yelled at me. "That girl was killed today, and we saw it, and you want to pretend like nothing's happened?"

"Well, if you don't want to go to prison you'll follow my lead," I said, scowling at her.

"What, you think if we don't own up they're not going to find her? Someone's going to find her sometime and when they do the police will be straight here ready to take us away."

I ran a hand through my hair in distress. She was right, of course. There was no way out of this. Unless we dispose of all the evidence...

"Okay, new plan," I said. "We go back to the crime scene and dispose of any evidence we may have left behind."

"_What?_" Maya screamed. "You're insane, we can't go back there!"

"Of course we can. If we want to get away with this then we have to," I replied calmly, though I wasn't very sure of myself. It was our only option, though, so we grabbed a few supplies and headed out to clean up our mess, praying that nobody had found the body yet.

Nobody had found the body when we got there, and we quickly scrubbed off any evidence that we may have left behind that we were ever there. I realized after a while that this was pointless, though, since there was a witness who would confirm that she saw us there. I sighed to myself as we finished cleaning and turned to my sister, who was trying her best not to cry again. I was panicking myself. I had no idea what was the right move to make. If we called the police, they'd know immediately that it was us, but if we didn't, then we'd probably get in even more trouble. Scrubbing away the evidence was probably not the smartest thing to do either, since the police still had that blue light thing that showed where blood is (or was) even when you can't see it. Just by clearing away the evidence (or _trying _to at least), everyone would assume that we were trying to cover our tracks, like this was a planned murder.

We stood back and admired our handiwork. "We have to move the body," I said, hands on hips, trying not to look at the body too much.

Maya looked at me as though I was crazy. "_What? _No way! We can't do that, and it wouldn't make a difference, anyway!"

I sagged, suddenly realizing she was right. There was a witness who would report her friend missing and bring the police to her exact location. And then she'd tell them about us. It was only a matter of time.

Still, there was a tiny bit of hope. If we covered our tracks really well, the police might know that it was us who did it, but they wouldn't be able to prove anything. The last thing that girl Caitlin saw was her friend mysteriously rising into the air...we could blame it on some supernatural ghost or something...

"Okay, well I have another plan," I announced, feeling rather confident about this one. "We go running to the police-"

Maya opened her mouth to protest but I held up a hand to silence her.

"-and we start screaming about this ghost, okay? And we'll say that the girl rose into the air and then was killed by something we couldn't see, and then that girl Caitlin will be able to back us up since she saw it too," I finished. I had to admit, it was a bloody good plan.

"You're insane," Maya said flatly. My sort-of smile dropped. I thought it had been pretty good. That, and I was really getting tired of her calling me crazy.

"What do you mean?" I wanted to know, frowning slightly at her rejection of my plan.

"I mean, you've really finally lost it. You want to blame it on a _ghost? _We may as well just tell them about the Frog Man!"

"Well if we have another witness..." I stopped, and sighed. Our only other option was to go home and try to forget about it. Like that could ever happen. We were screwed. Well and truly screwed.

"Well," I said, trying to sound cheerful, "let's just go home and say our last goodbyes before we're arrested."

Maya stared at me, eyes wide. Apparently she didn't like that plan either. What did it take to make her happy these days? There was a noise behind us, and I turned, expecting to see the Frog Man. But nobody was there. Only the girl on the floor. The dead girl. Only...she wasn't dead. My sister and I ran to where she lay and Maya knelt beside her.

"Oh my god, she's alive!" Maya breathed, her voice full of relief. Robyn groaned again and tried to move, but Maya put her hands out to stop her. "Don't move," my sister told the girl softly. Then she turned to me. "Call the ambulance!"

I hesitated, but took out my mobile and rang for an ambulance. Once I'd told them the situation (not all of it, obviously) and our location I hung up, and all we could do was wait. Maya tried to calm Robyn down and get her to breathe normally but it wasn't an easy task. Robyn was in a state of shock.

"What's the story?" I asked Maya.

She turned to me. "We tell the truth," she decided.

"But we don't know the truth," I exclaimed, fully aware that Robyn was listening. We couldn't talk about the Frog Man in front of her, so I figured it was best to act like we had no idea what was going on. I'm sure Robyn would tell the truth. I was counting on it. She was facing us when the Frog Man lifted her up, so she would've been certain that neither of us was the one that snapped her neck.

I decided to check anyway, just in case. I crouched beside Robyn and her eyes flickered to my face. "You know it wasn't us who did this to you, right? You saw us," I said to her. I could see her trying to respond but she couldn't nod and she couldn't seem to speak. "Blink once for yes, two for no," I suggested.

She blinked once. I sighed, relieved. So that was our names cleared. The problem now was getting the police to believe that whatever attacked her had been invisible (I figured it was best to play along with the 'invisible' thing, rather than tell them about a half-frog half-human freak).

The paramedics arrived and the police joined them shortly after. I saw Maya go into a fit of panic when she saw the police, probably assuming they'd immediately suspect us, which they did. As the paramedics carefully loaded Robyn into the ambulance, two police officers approached us looking stern.

"Afternoon, kids," said the first officer. "My name is Detective Miller and this is my partner Detective Lee."

"We understand you saw what happened?" Lee asked, and Maya nodded in response. I said nothing.

"Could you talk us through what happened?" Miller said, giving us a look that said '_I know you're guilty. Just give it up." _I returned his stare calmly, not giving him the pleasure of making us crack. Maya and I had agreed earlier to let me do the talking.

"We were walking home from school," I began, making my voice tremble in an attempt to sound distraught. It must've worked, because the detectives' expressions softened. I launched into the story of what happened, stopping only once when the detective interrupted me after I mentioned the 'floating in the air' bit. I sighed impatiently and snapped at him to let me finish. He did, and when I did, Maya and I studied their faces to try and work out whether they believed the story.

"She 'floated in the air'?" Miller asked dubiously, raising his eyebrows.

"It's true," I said. "There's another witness who can confirm it."

"Who?"

"Caitlin Wright is her name," Maya said, speaking for the first time.

The detectives nodded slowly, obviously not buying our story. "I think you need to come down to the station with us," Lee said.

"What? Why?" Maya asked, and I could hear the fear in her voice.

"We have to make a statement, right?" I said, keeping my voice calm. The worst thing I could do in this situation is freak out and make my sister even more worried. The best thing to do was stay calm and try to keep others calm. "Calm down, Maya," I said, patting her on the shoulder. She didn't relax, just shrugged me off. How rude.

"That's right," Miller said. "Do you have any way to contact your parents?"

"We don't have to tell them about this, do we?" I said, not wanting to see my parents' faces when they came to meet us at the police station.

"I'm afraid you do, young man. You and you sister could be in very serious trouble."

"But we didn't do anything," I said, narrowing my eyes.

"They all say that, though," Lee said, leading us to the police car. I gulped, my calmness starting to wither away as we drove to the police station.

The events that followed were not pretty, so I doubt you want to read about them. Basically what happened was we spent hours at the police station, retelling the story of what happened, and suffering through the million rants and lectures our hysterical mother was giving us. Dad stayed quiet throughout it all, though, which unnerved me. I would prefer it if he yelled at us or something like Mum, but he didn't say a word.

By the time we got home even Mum was quiet. I had a feeling she was crying but I couldn't be sure.

"Mum, we didn't do anything, I swear," I said to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We were innocent bystanders."

"You said some invisible creature did it, Harlan. You expect us to believe that?" Mum said, her voice strained and tired. A rush of feelings ran through me, feelings I didn't feel very often. Guilt. Pity. Regret. Even hatred. Hatred for the Frog Man, mostly, but it'd be a lie if I said I didn't feel a little for myself, too. I went overboard with the demands with the Frog Man, and though I realized that now, it was too late to go back and change anything.

I could say that it was both my sister's and my own fault, but that wouldn't be exactly true. She didn't order the Frog Man about much. In fact, I only ever heard her say something to the Frog Man once, and that was to find Phinnie when she lost him (again).

"So, what, you think I murdered that girl? Or tried to," I said, my anger building up. I couldn't believe my own mother didn't believe me. She even suspected me of attempted murder.

"No!" she said suddenly. "Of course not! I just...don't think you're telling the whole truth."

"What do you mean?" I said with a frown.

"I think, maybe you're confused or scared," her tone softened. "Is someone threatening you?"

I blinked. That was unexpected. I considered saying yes, but decided not to dig myself a hole. "No..."

"Did you see who tried to kill that poor girl and now they're threatening you with something? And that's why you've made up this story about an invisible creature?"

I sighed. "I didn't say it was an invisible creature who did it, Mum," I said, my irritation growing. "I just said that it _looked _like she was being held up by something."

"Something invisible..."

There was a terrible silence after that. Nobody knew what to say or do, and Dad still hadn't said anything. Maya was silently crying, and I guessed it was from the shock of what had happened that day.

"It's been a long day, I think we should all try to get some sleep," Dad said, breaking the silence and speaking for the first time in hours.

We all agreed, and not long after, made our way up to bed.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The next day was a bit awkward. Nobody knew what to say, but we had to wait for the police to contact us again to see what happened next. Whether we were still suspects or if we were clear. Our parents went out to dinner that night, leaving my sister and I home alone. It was around 10 o'clock when there was a loud knock on the door. I wasn't going to answer it – mostly because of my laziness - but then I figured I probably should in case it was my parents coming back from dinner. I opened the door and stopped. Yeah, these guys _weren't _Mum and Dad.

"Can I help you?" I asked suspiciously, eyeing the three strange people standing on the doorstep. There was something weird about them...

"Er, yes," said the young blonde male on the left, stepping forward. "Are you Harlan Vang?"

"Who's asking?" I said, my eyes narrowed.

The man in the middle chuckled. He looked only a few years older than the blonde one, with floppy brown hair and a fringe that covered his left eye completely. He was fairly tall, wearing a white shirt, the top few buttons not done up, exposing his chest, and black jeans with three different belts. He was wearing a long, gold necklace, the bottom hidden in his shirt, and a ring or two on his fingers. He kind of reminded me of a pirate. I wondered what the heck he was doing wearing something like that in the middle of winter. The weather was freezing, especially this time of night, and I wouldn't be surprised if it started snowing soon.

The woman standing next to him looked like a normal every-day woman, with long brown hair and dark eyes, and wearing jeans and a simple pink sweater with a scarf and gloves.

The blonde guy wore a red and black tunic, plain black trousers and a long crimson velvet coat, and I realized that he was possibly the most weirdly-dressed guy I've ever seen in my life. He and his friend looked like something out of a movie.

Who the heck were these people? And how did they know my name? They didn't look like anyone I'd ever seen before. The blonde guy cleared his throat. "My name's Levi Murdoch. This is Vaughn and Wynn," he said.

"We're here to discuss the Frog Man," the woman – Wynn – told me.

My eyes widened despite myself. "How do you know about that?" I asked.

"We've had..._dealings_ with the Frog Man in the past," Levi answered vaguely, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his coat.

"So you know how to get rid of him then?" I said, seeing an opportunity to learn how to get rid of the Frog Man once and for all.

"Well, not exactly. Can we come in? We need to talk," Levi said.

I wasn't usually the type to let strangers walk into my home, especially not these weirdos, but they knew about the Frog Man, and I had to admit I was curious. "Fine," I said, stepping aside to let them in.

Maya was coming down the stairs as I invited our guests in. She stopped halfway down and stared at the three people standing in the hallway and then at me. "Who are these?" she asked me, eyeballing the strangers suspiciously.

"No idea. They seem nice, though, so I invited them in," I shrugged. I meant it as a joke, but Maya didn't look like she got it. She stared at me and opened her mouth to probably shout at me but I spoke before her. "I'm joking. That's Levi...V...Vaughn, and..." I struggled to remember their names.

"Wynn," Wynn helped me out, and I nodded.

"Right," I said, and continued.

"Hi," Levi said timidly.

"How's it going?" Vaughn smiled. Wynn said nothing, but nodded politely.

"They reckon they know about the Frog Man," I told Maya, my tone a little sceptical, and Vaughn frowned and Levi blinked in surprise.

"Wait – _you_ know about Frog Man?" Levi asked Maya.

"Yeah. I can see him too." Maya replied.

Levi and Vaughn exchanged glances.

"What?" Maya said, frowning. It seemed like both of us being able to see the Frog Man was unexpected for them.

"There's usually only oneAmbicon alive at one time," Levi explained, deep in thought.

"Maybe it's the _prophecy!" _Vaughn said, his eyes wide with shock.

Levi gave him a funny look and Wynn frowned. "What the hell are you talking about?" Levi said irritably. "There's no prophecy."

Vaughn laughed. "Yeah, I know. It just seemed like the right moment to add something dramatic..."

We all stared at him. "You're an idiot," Wynn told him, and his smile dropped.

"What's an Ambicon_?" _Maya asked, changing the subject.

"An Ambicon is what we call someone who can talk to frogs," Levi answered. "One Ambicon is born every couple of centuries, and they have the power to control the Frog Man. I've never heard of there being _two _at the same time before."

"Probably 'cause we're twins," I said, sitting on the sofa casually. "Who are you anyway? And why did you come here?"

Levi sat next to me and crossed his legs. "Well to answer your last question, we're here to talk to you about the Frog Man. Our kind has been trying to kill him for centuries, but we're not powerful enough. He's wiped out enormous numbers of vampires who went up against him and now we're pretty desperate, as embarrassing as that is to admit."

"I'm sorry, what?" I interrupted, leaning forward. "Did you say vampires?"

Levi looked at me. "I did."

My face broke into a smile. _Vampires? _Come on. This guy was insane. I let out a laugh. "Uh-huh _vampires._ So you're vampires."

"I know it's hard to believe, Harlan, but we're telling you the truth," Wynn said with a concerned frown.

"Vampires aren't real," Maya scoffed, sitting on the arm of the sofa. "You expect us to believe that?"

Levi rolled his eyes. "Well what about the Frog Man?"

Huh. He had a point.

"You humans are so ignorant," Levi said, his voice a little angry. "Yes, it just so happens that even though you _humans _haven't actually met a vampire, they still exist."

I grunted. He certainly showed me. "Fine. Prove it."

Levi opened his mouth a little, and as he did, his canines started to grow. They grew until they were at least three centimetres long, white and gleaming. I stared at him. Okay. I didn't know how my life could get any weirder.

"So, the reason we're here," Levi said, his voice a little hesitant, "is because we want you to come with us and train to fight the Frog Man. And, hopefully, kill it, and save both our races from extinction."

I inwardly sighed. I give up. If there's one thing I've learnt from this experience, it's expect the unexpected.

"What do you mean 'come back' with you? Come back with you where?" Maya demanded.

"Back to the vampire Council," Levi said. "It's kind of like the government for the vampires in Britain. There are different Councils for different parts of the world. It's cut off from the human world so the humans don't interfere with us."

"Then how do you feed?" I asked.

Levi shrugged. "Robbing blood banks mostly. But we do sometimes get it fresh. Most of us just make a small cut in the human and drink from that. We don't usually kill them, but some vampires choose to do it the old fashioned way and do. Though that way's frowned upon."

"Is it now?" I said, getting tired of the conversation. I can't believe these guys actually expect us to leave our home and go with them to the 'vampire world'. If it even existed. For all I knew these guys were just loonies and vampires didn't even exist. Although, I had seen the fangs...I guess that was proof enough. For now, anyway.

"Look, I know you want us to come and fight with you against the Frog Man, but we can't," I said.

"Yes you can," Levi disagreed. "Why not?"

I frowned. He really had to ask? "Um, because of our parents. And friends. And school."

"You can make new friends," Vaughn insisted. "And who needs school anyway? I can't believe you'd rather stay at home and get an _education _than go off on some epic adventure with a bunch of vampires. Weird kid."

_I _was weird? "Look, thanks for the offer, but we really can't," I said. "What would we tell our parents? 'Oh, hey, Mum and Dad, just wanted to tell you that we're going off with some guys who claim to be vampires to go fight this half-frog half-man creature'? Somehow I don't think that'll go down so well with them."

Levi rolled his eyes. "Well _obviously _you'd be a little more subtle about it. You wouldn't be able to tell them straight out. You'd have to fake your death."

"Oh, lovely," I said sarcastically. That was great. But, the more I thought about it, the better the idea sounded. We'd get away from the police, for one. Though there was still a chance that they'd decide us totally innocent. Unlikely though. We'd have to leave our family and friends, which was a bit of a shame.

"What did you mean by you were 'getting desperate'?" Maya wanted to know.

Levi frowned. "Many vampires have gone up against the Frog Man, but he's much too powerful. He can kill most vampires almost as easily as he can kill humans. We've tried going to the Ambicons for help in the past, but the Ambicons are usually just as evil as their little pet, using him as their private assassin. We feared that you might be the same.

"After a while, the Ambicon blood in you will start to take over. The Ambicon blood is the blood of the Frog Man, so there more it takes over you the more your powers will grow and the more like him you become," he said.

There was a moment's silence. "I'm going to grow a frog's head?" I yelled, breaking the silence and making Maya and Levi jump.

"What? No!" Levi said, looking irritated. "I mean you're going to _act _like him. You know, evil."

"You're saying I'm going to go evil?" I said doubtfully. There's no way I'd go evil. It was way too much hard work, thinking up plans, killing people. Count me out. "That's not going to happen."

Levi shrugged. "It's inevitable. It _is _possible, however, that because you _both _have the Frog Man's blood in you, the blood won't spread so quickly or thoroughly around you body and therefore it won't make you _that _crazy as quickly as it usually does."

"But we are going to go crazy?" Maya said, her expression disappointed.

"Oh, yes," Levi said flatly. "Definitely."

I groaned. Why? _Why _couldn't I just have a normal life? I guess now we didn't have any choice but to help the vampires. "What's in it for us?" I asked.

"I'm sorry?"

"Why should we go with you?"

"Well, for starters you'd be saving the human and vampire race..."

"Anything else?" I wasn't really that bothered about saving the human race. It had survived Frog attacks in the past, so what would change this time? In fact, last time, the humans weren't even aware that they were being targeted by the Frog Man. I was sure they'd be fine this time around.

"You need more reason?" Levi said, obviously caught off-guard by my lack of concern. "Well, you'd learn how to control you powers more and slow down the rate at which you are going insane. And, if that's not enough, if you stay here and you end up going crazy, you'll probably kill your friends and families and end up going to prison for the rest of your life."

"Don't sugar coat it," I grumbled. As much as I hated to admit it, there was some truth to what he was saying. And the last thing I wanted was to lose my mind and kill those closest to me. The vampire might have been lying, though. After all, he'd given me no reason to trust him. The vampires in all the movies I'd seen killed and drank the blood of humans, and so far there'd been no evidence that these vampires weren't like that too. "Look, we'll consider it, but right now the answer's no," I told the vampires, and Maya nodded in agreement.

"Look, if you don't do this our race will be wiped out completely," Levi said, his eyes almost pleading. "You're our only hope."

I nodded. "Okay, we'll keep that in mind."

Vaughn took a step forward, scowling. "Listen, kid. All of our lives rest on your decision, so don't just sit there and act all cool like you don't care because a lot of lives depend on whether or not you come with us!"

I stood up. "Well, what do you want me to do, panic? At this point panicking won't help at all. I figure that at times when you don't know what to do staying calm is the best thing to do," I said, suddenly feeling stupid when I realized that what I just said rhymed._ Damn it. _Maybe acting cool wasn't always the best thing to do after all, because you could always end up just making a fool of yourself as I'd just kindly demonstrated.

"The least you could do is show a bit of concern," Vaughn grumbled, and then turned and walked to the door.

Levi sighed and gave me one last look before he left. "We'll be in touch," he said, and walked out of the room.

"Bye," Wynn smiled kindly, and then followed Levi out.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

A few days after our run-in with the vampires I started to suffer from migraines. I'd had migraines before, but not nearly as bad as this. It felt like my head was going to explode. They usually subsided after a couple of seconds, but every day they were getting worse. During the headaches I sometimes got little visions of the Frog Man, which bugged me. I'd really had enough of frogs. I didn't like them to begin with but after everything that's happened I never wanted to see another one again, which was impossible of course. At first I thought that the stress of everything had got to me, but as the headaches intensified, so did the visions. I assumed that the headaches and visions were a result of my powers strengthening and I had to admit that worried me a little. Levi said that the stronger my powers became the more frog blood was in my system. And the more blood in my system the crazier and eviller I became. Excellent.

So this was real. I really was one of the rare so-called Ambicons and my sister and I were bound to be crazy someday. It seemed that my powers were developing faster than Maya's. She wasn't experiencing any headaches and she wasn't having any visions. She still couldn't see into the Frog Man's head yet, and I wondered if summoning him was the extent of her powers. She was lucky. That would mean that she wouldn't lose her mind quite as fast as me. I was still thinking of the offer the vampires gave us, and I realized that I was most likely going to take them up on it. Levi was right, it would be better for everyone if we went with them and trained up our powers so we could kill the Frog Man, and I knew that staying at home would only cause trouble as our powers increased.

Maya's powers weren't very strong, though, and they didn't seem to be growing. It would be safe enough if she stayed here with Mum and Dad and only I left. That was my plan, but I didn't mention it to Maya because I knew what her reaction would be. She wouldn't like it at all, but I was fairly confident that I could sway her in time.

I was sitting in science class at that moment, mulling over how much my life had changed in the past couple of weeks and what I was going to do next. I felt my eyes drooping and I knew I was drifting off to sleep. My teacher's slow, dull voice didn't help either, and I slowly lost consciousness.

The Frog Man appeared in my dream. First it was just quick flashes of him standing in front of a man of average height and build. Before I could make out whom it was the image was gone, and then there was nothing. And then…_pain. _The most intense headache I'd ever felt. The image flashed up again and this time it was clearer. The man was wearing a finely tailored blue suit with a red tie. He wore a tall blue hat the same colour as his suit, bright orange hair sticking out from under it. Most of his features were still a blur, but I could see his dark green eyes clearly. With all the different colours he reminded me a lot of a clown or a magician.

I tried to make out what he was saying, but the sounds were fuzzy. The picture dimmed and the pain increased. There was a flash brighter than the others and suddenly the picture became crystal clear.

"_You will obey _me_not those little brats,"_ the man was saying. There was a short pause. "_I _know_you can't ignore a command from an Ambicon, but try to resist, otherwise our plan is pointless._" Another pause. It sounded as though the Frog Man was talking to the man inside his head. "_Yes, and now that those filthy __suckers __have got involved it will be much harder, but you are getting more powerful. Soon we can start to put our plan into action,"_ the man said. _"In the meantime, kill the vampires. They are a nuisance we don't need right now."_

Suddenly, I felt a pain stronger than anything I'd ever felt before. I bit my lip to stop myself from crying out and I felt blood run down my chin. My eyes suddenly flew open and I found myself lying on the floor in the science labs. The pain subsided almost as quickly as it had started, and I groaned and clutched my head. I must have fallen out of my chair. I sat up, wiping the blood off my chin from when I bit my lip and slowly looked around the classroom. Everyone was staring at me, some looking frightened and others looking surprised and wary.

"Harlan!" a voice to the side of me gasped when I sat up. I turned my head slowly and noticed Mr Turner, our science teacher, kneeling beside me, his eyes filled with concern.

"Yes?" I asked, trying to act casual.

"What happened? Are you okay?" the teacher asked.

"Probably not," I admitted, my voice a little hoarse. "But I'll live."

"You were groaning pretty loudly, son," Mr Turner said. Was I? I hadn't noticed. How embarrassing.

"I'm fine," I told him, not concentrating on him. I was thinking about what I just saw. Was it a dream or another vision? And who was that weird magician guy the Frog Man was talking to? And the plan...

"I think you should go and see the nurse," suggested Mr Turner. It took me a while to reply, since I was deep in thought and not really listening to what he was saying.

"Yeah," I said, and got up and left the room, wobbling a little. I steadied myself by leaning against the wall and then made my way up to the nurse's room.

I told Maya what happened when we got home from school. She was just as surprised as I was.

"You're having proper _visions _now?" Maya asked incredulously. "I thought you only saw little pictures of him."

"Apparently not," I murmured.

Maya pouted. "Why aren't _I _getting any stronger?" she complained. "It's like I'm getting _weaker. _I can barely summon him now."

"You know, it's just an idea, but maybe we should concentrate less on _you _and more on the vision I had," I snapped. "That guy I saw was definitely an Ambicon."

Maya sighed. "Since when have you cared about your stupid visions?"

I rolled my eyes and shook my head slowly, not answering. I decided that now was probably as good a time as any to tell my sister about my plan.

"I've been thinking about what the vampires said," I began, and Maya turned to me sharply, and I knew she already had an idea about where this was heading, "and I think we should consider taking them up on their offer."

"We can't!" Maya protested. "What about Mum and Dad? You think they're not going to ask questions when both their kids turn up dead?"

"Exactly," I said. "That's why both of us aren't going to die. Just one. Me, to be exact."

"You mean you're going on your own and leaving me here?" Maya demanded, her voice rising.

"Right. Trust me; this is the best way to do this. If Mum and Dad think I'm dead they'll be devastated, but at least if it's just me they'll still have you. If we both die I don't think they'd cope too well. Besides, your powers aren't even that good so it's not like there's any danger in you staying here," I said.

Maya stood up in anger. "So that's it. I don't have very strong powers so you're ditching me and going off on your own."

"What, you _want _to leave Mum and Dad and your friends? I thought you wanted to stay."

"I do but...I'm not gonna let you go off on this cool adventure and leave me at home all alone doing nothing."

"You won't be doing nothing, you'll be living your life. Trust me, it'll be fine. It's not like you're never going to see me again, and when you're old enough to go off on your own you can come join me with the vampires. Honestly, you're making a big deal out of nothing," I assured her.

She looked about ready to explode. "So I won't be able to see you until I'm old enough to leave Mum and Dad, which would be four years from now," she yelled.

"Four years isn't that long. It'll fly by. Besides, you can see me sooner. I just meant it'll be when you're eighteen when you can stay and train with me."

Maya glared at me, her eyes filling with tears. I hated it when people cried. It was such an awkward situation. Being tactful wasn't really my strong point, so I never knew what to say or do in situations where tears were involved.

"Look, don't cry, you'll be fine," I said, trying to cheer her up. It didn't work.

"Just leave me alone," Maya said, her head buried in her arms. I sighed. So she's sulking huh? Typical teenage behaviour.

Maya calmed down after a while and started to see the logic in my plan. I wondered briefly when the vampires would contact me again, but I didn't give it much thought. I wasn't all that eager to leave my life here and go on some adventure that I would probably not come back from. It'd suit me fine if the vampires didn't come back at all.

It was the weekend, so I didn't have to suffer all day at school and risk passing out from my stupid visions in front of everyone, which was good. It was late, though, and I headed up to my room to read this new comic I bought recently. With everything that's happened with the Frog Man and vampires I hadn't had much time to sit down and relax, but since the Frog Man hadn't shown up for quite a few days I figured now was the time.

I went into my room and switched on the light. There was someone standing with their back to me, facing out the window. They didn't turn around but I knew they knew I was there. I knew who it was straight away. The blonde hair and fancy coat gave it away.

"You made a decision yet?" Levi asked, his voice sinister.

I rolled my eyes. Did he have to make it so dramatic? "As a matter of fact I have."

Levi turned around and looked at me. "So?"

"Well," I said, taking a seat on my bed. "There are a few things I wanted to talk to you about first."

Levi nodded, but I could see the impatience in his eyes. "What?"

"I had a vision the other day," I said, and Levi's eyes narrowed.

"Go on," he encouraged me and I did. I told him about my vision with the magician and the Frog Man. I didn't really know why I told him, but I guess it was because I was worried about it. It sounded like the man knew who we were, but I was certain I'd never seen him before. It was creepy. Plus, I guessed the vision played an important role in finding out about the Frog Man. He and this guy seemed to have a plan for something and I was guessing it wasn't anything good. Probably something to do with wiping out the human race and that was something I could do without.

"What was the plan?" Levi asked when I'd finished the story.

I shrugged and Levi frowned, thinking over what he'd just heard.

"He talked to the Frog Man, you say?" Levi said and I nodded. "But that would mean he's an Ambicon..."

"So?" I said, not really sure what he was getting at.

"So, there can't be _three _Ambicons at the same time. It's impossible."

"Obviously not."

"This isn't good," Levi said, mostly to himself.

"It's not great, no. If there's another Ambicon I'm guessing it'll make my task of killing the Frog Man even harder, yes?" I said to him, displeased at how hard that was beginning to sound. I was hoping I could just train for a couple of days and then order the Frog to jump off a cliff but apparently it wasn't as easy as that.

"Well it was never going to be an easy task, but yes, it would be a little harder for you now. If that guy even is an Ambicon, which I doubt," Levi answered, and took a seat on my bed opposite me. "You said _your _job," he realized after a few seconds.

"I did, yes," I said with a sigh. "My sister won't be accompanying us on our little adventure I'm afraid."

"Why not?" Levi demanded. He was clearly not happy about the decision. "You'll need all the help you can get if you want to kill the Frog Man. The more Ambicons we have n our side the better now that there's a possibility of another Ambicon working against us."

"She wouldn't be much help," I said, shrugging. "She doesn't have very good powers. She can barely summon him."

Levi frowned when I told him this. "Is that so? Are you sure that's a permanent state? Her powers might grow in time."

"Well, no, I'm not sure, but even if she did have powers she probably wouldn't come. Since I'm going to have to fake my death to get away she's going to keep my parents company."

Levi nodded. "Are you sure that's a wise choice?"

"No not really."

"If she stays and her powers grow she'll..."

"I know what will happen. But it's a risk I'm willing to take."

Levi sighed. "Okay, fine. Well, if you're going to come you'll have to fake your death."

I nodded. I would be happier if I could just run away but I knew that wasn't an option. If I just ran away people would look for me. "Got any ideas?"

Levi smiled, and I had a feeling I wouldn't like what was coming. "As a matter of fact I do," he said, and started to fill me in on his plan to fake my death.


End file.
